Turkish Delight


Summer is here.  And once again I’m reminded that I find the idea of summer to be much more appealing than the real thing.  I like playing in the water, I like barbecuing, and because I work in education, summer still has that childhood association with “No school!”  But ultimately the heat just kills me.  I hate it.  During the day, I don’t want to go out and do anything.  I just want to stay where there’s lots of A/C, and lots of Diet Mountain Dew and Coke Zero.

To beat the heat, a couple of days ago my wife gave me an amazing gadget.  I’ve just mentioned my addiction taste for soda (or pop, or “coke,” depending on where you live) and because my wife knows me and loves me, she got me a Sodastream.  Have you heard of these things?  With one of these marvelous inventions, you can MAKE YOUR OWN CARBONATED BEVERAGES.  It’s amazing.  I have to admit I laugh like some kind of Willy Wonka mad scientist every time I make another fizzy bottle.  So far, I’ve tried the diet root beer (pretty good), the “cola free” (a zero calorie cola more like Pepsi than Coke) and the “diet fountain mist” (an approximation of Diet Mountain Dew that misses the mark, but still tastes all right).  But if you’re thinking of getting one of these, be careful what you try to carbonate.  I’ve had a mishap or two…

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The Clockwork Three has been released in Turkish.  This is the cover:

I think the title is so awesome.  Google tells me it translates into English as Tiktaktak Trio, which I assume means the “tiktaktak” is what it looks like.  The onomatopoeic sound of a clock.  This is cool to me because when I was brainstorming titles for The Clockwork Three, one that I considered for about five minutes was Tick Tock.  So I got to see it in print, sort of, after all.

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The BEA folks have put up a video of the Middle Grade Editors’ Buzz Forum online.  My editor, Lisa, talks about Icefall (and The Clockwork Three) toward the beginning of the clip. If you’re interested in watching it, you can do so here.

And I think that’s all for now.

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5 responses to “Turkish Delight”

  1. Turkish–very cool. It sort of reminds me of Dorothy’s automaton friend, Tik-Tok, in the old OZ books. Or else a giant, automated breath-mint.

  2. Fun CLOCKWORK THREE cover. I loved the link to Lisa (well, the panel, but especially to Lisa) so I could see her and listen to her drool with passion over your stories, writing, and talent. I agree with her. What she says confirms what I see and hear being said on Tuesday nights. Of course, the final glow, the elements that cause readers to love your work and to drool, comes from the underlying components you bring, properly assemble, hopefully with a little feedback, and polish.

  3. I didn’t have time to listen to what Lisa said before, so I just did. I knew Lisa thought your writing was wonderful, but wow, what a fabulous quote from Ursula LeGuin to have on the back of your book. Holy freaking cow! And from your favorite author, too. It sort of doesn’t matter what anybody else says about it now, right?

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